Safety Guards Irritating Seaside Walkers?

A numeral of people walking west next to the seaside from Haskell’s past the Bacara alternative have reported being frightened by security guards on the belongings near the mouth of Eagle Canyon, a spot known close by as Driftwood.

Peter Moffat, a occupier of nearby Rancho Embarcadero who walks his dog along this stretch of beach, has noticed “beefed up” patrols of the private possessions and witnessed a protector who lost his cool when a man and his girlfriend ventured onto a stony area not far from his location.

“As the man approached the protector, who was sitting in his car, to ask him a query, the guard jumped out of his car and told the man that he was on Venoco and federal belongings and he would go to jail if he went any additional,” Moffat said. “The girlfriend was farther down the beach, collecting shells near the rocky border of the high-tide line, and then the protector started yelling and making hand motions at her to not go any farther inland both.”

The goods in query — located straight away west of the Bacara — is not owned by Venoco but is confidentially held by Seattle-area billionaire Craig McCaw, who purchased it in 2008. McCaw is the former husband of Wendy McCaw, who owns the Santa Barbara News-Press. The 60-acre assets really consists of three parcels, two located north of the railroad tracks and one 36-acre package on the south side that includes the Driftwood Cove area.

In an attempt to confirm whether there was a matter of not, I walked along the beach from Haskell’s to Driftwood Cove on Monday. As I approached Driftwood, I could see a white SUV parked on the edge of the possessions and within a few feet of the sand. Not too long after, while I was at rest fairly a ways from the cove, the guard got out of his vehicle, stood in front of it, and watched me the whole time.

“Having safety guards stationed right away above the beach area where their attendance could feel threatening is unlucky,” said Anne Almay, supervising planner for Santa Barbara County Planning and growth division.”

“There has never been any intention to trouble anybody using the beach,” said Denise Alley, executive of operations for the property’sLLC, 8051 Hollister Avenue LLC. “We welcome any input regarding the performance of the safety guards, and we will examine the complaints additional with the exterior safety firm who patrols the possessions and do our best to make certain there are no further problems with beach walkers.”

Allec noted that the guards are there to defend the belongings not harass people. “We’ve had calls from the Sheriff’s subdivision regarding marijuana growing, telephone poles cut down and used for a meth lab, bonfires within the trees along the creek, and other obliteration on the belongings,” she added. “There are also responsive habitat and educational resources that are significant for us to defend.”

McCaw’s possession of the parcels has not been without argument. In 2007, not long after McCaw became proprietor, unpermitted work was done to take away more than seven acres’ worth of eucalyptus trees, coastal sage shrub, native grass and nonnative vegetation, some of it in close proximity to a historic archeology site. As a consequence of the brush and tree taking away, Gaviota Holdings LLC (now called 8051 Hollister Avenue LLC) was necessary to present a Coastal expansion Permit to mitigate the smash up.

Neither the authorize nor the alleviation has been finished yet, but Allec lately notified County Planning they would like to shift a piece of the alleviation work from the oceanfront parcel (where the removals took place) to the parcel north of the railroad tracks. She has also indicated the LLC will be submitting a request for a housing home on the goods.